2. ICIC 2015
3. The UK Insurance Act
4. Denzil Stuart
5. International Congress of Marine Arbitrators–Change of Venue to Hong Kong
6. People and Places
FOB Network News
The latest sponsors of FOB are the organisers of the upcoming Arbitrators Congress in Hong Kong. Item 5 below refers.
The current count of Members is 3675
Registration is gratis for individuals. Businesses can take out a page for a small supporting contribution and we welcome firms prepared to sponsor Group pages or advertise with us. This helps to keep FOB a going concern and puts a smile on the face of our programmers and accountants..
FOB is a project designed to adapt the new ways of using the internet for the sorts of people who read The Maritime Advocate.
You are welcome to join
1. Well Site Leaders are not Seamen
Dennis Bryant, writing in his Bryant’s Maritime Consulting Newsletter reports:-
The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that well site leaders working on the MODU Deepwater Horizon when it suffered an explosion and fire resulting in eleven deaths are not subject to prosecution under the Seaman’s Negligence Act because they are not “seamen” for purposes of that statute. While the individuals had certain responsibilities with regard to the drilling of the well, they had no responsibilities for the operation of vessel itself as a vessel. United States v. Kaluza, No. 14-30122 (5th Cir., March 11, 2015)
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/14/14-30122-CR0.pdf
2. ICIC 2015
Aidan Holly writes:-
Registration has opened for the 2nd ICIC v.z.w. Conference which will take place at the Crown Plaza Heythrop Park Hotel in Oxfordshire from 8-9 June 2015.
This is a Conference that is open to all disciplines within the cargo transportation insurance process and its related service industries across the UK and International markets. The Conference is aimed at Underwriters, Risk Managers, Placing Brokers, Claims Adjusters or Claims Brokers.
The key purpose of the Conference is to provide a platform for the education and professional development of all those within the marine cargo insurance community regardless of age and experience.
http://www.cargo-conference.co.uk
3. The UK Insurance Act
Derek Luxford of Hicksons in Sydney has sent in a link to a recent article in the Australian Lloyds List on the UK Insurance Act and the Australian marine and re-insurance ramifications.He says the UK Act might revive calls for the Australian MIA to be reformed, a process which took off and then died over a decade ago, in part because some of it was too radical at the time, and in part because the Australian Parliament is not very interested in marine insurance law.
4. Denzil Stuart
Sheila Jones writes:-
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Denzil Stuart, a highly respected figure in marine and insurance journalism and public relations consultancy.
Friends and colleagues throughout the industries he knew intimately, and the public relations sphere, will mourn his passing. He was 83.
Despite suffering poor health in the last few years, he continued to serve his client accounts with selfless attention, and to be closely attuned to the latest developments in the insurance and maritime sectors.
Denzil Stuart was a long-time contributor to many publications, including Lloyd’s List, and was latterly the insurance editor of Seatrade magazine for several years, covering all aspects of the marine insurance and P&I markets. Fellow journalists respected the extent of his contacts throughout the London and international markets, which often gave him a head start on key stories.
Denzil’s public relations client list over the years saw him travelling the world. At various times, he represented the huge Hong Kong-based group World-Wide Shipping, the Salvage Association, the American P&I Club, the Strike Club, tanker group NITC, AXA Corporate Solutions, BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys, and other maritime interests. He was consultant and press officer to the International Union of Marine Insurance for eight years until 2012. He represented law firms in the UK (including Ince & Co), Greece and the US, and was closely involved with the biennial maritime trade fair Posidonia.
His first public relations client was Lloyd’s broking group Stewart Smith, later to become part of Matthew Wrightson and then Stewart Wrightson. He particularly admired the head of the broking group, the late George J Stewart.
Denzil spent 10 years as a staff shipping journalist and freelance contributor to Fleet Street papers, including feature writing for the Financial Times.
He was invited by Jim Davis, a leading figure in the maritime and ship finance sectors and currently chairman of the International Maritime Industries Forum, to become the first press officer of what was at the time the world’s biggest shipping group, P&O. And Denzil was the first PR consultant appointed by any shipowners’ protection and indemnity mutual, starting with the UK Club.
Another first was his appointment as PR consultant to the former Institute of London Underwriters, one of the forerunners of the International Underwriting Association. He also organised and moderated the first General Arab Insurance Conference to be held outside the Middle East.
His career was among those featured in June 2013 in the Insurance Day series Power Behind the Throne.
5. International Congress of Marine Arbitrators–Change of Venue to Hong Kong
The 19th session of the International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators (ICMA XIX), which was to be held in Shanghai, will now be held on the original dates of 11 to 15 May 2015 in Hong Kong. Led by the members of the Hong Kong Maritime Arbitration Group (HKMAG), a division of the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC), the Host Committee has put together a full agenda for the delegates and accompanying persons. The Cedric Barclay Memorial Lecture will be given by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, the former President
of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Over 100 papers will be presented, and a mock arbitration has been organised jointly by 20 Essex Street and Quadrant Chambers. The event is supported by the Department of Justice, HKSAR Government and the Trade Development Council, as well as the entire maritime community in Hong Kong,
For full details of the event, please see
http://www.ICMA2015HongKong.org
6. People and Places
Rose George, author of ’Deep Sea & Foreign Going’- the book that reveals the UK’s dependence on the Merchant Navy and container shipping for 90 per cent of everything we import – is encouraging maritime businesses to support ‘Get Stripey’ on 15 May.
Organised by the charity Seafarers UK, ‘Get Stripey’ is a fundraising day is for employees to get sponsored to wear stripey clothes to work, or to simply make a donation to support more than 170,000 seafarers in need and their families. See
Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW) has announced Partner promotions in four of its international offices:-
In São Paulo, Geoffrey Conlin’s promotion enables the firm to continue growing its insurance and reinsurance practice in Brazil and across the Latin America region. He has handled some significant matters in the energy (onshore and offshore), property, marine, powergen and casualty (including D&O) sectors and his presence in the region is valued by clients. Geoffrey relocated from London to São Paulo in 2013.
In Hong Kong, the firm welcomes corporate lawyer Brendan Fyfe to the partnership. A banking and natural resources specialist, his promotion reflects HFW’s growing transactional capabilities in Asia. Brendan acts for banks and borrowers on finance matters, and also advises on mining and energy projects, having worked extensively in the mining sector before becoming a lawyer.
In London, Richard Strub has been promoted to partnership within the shipping litigation practice. Richard specialises in charterparty, bill of lading and ship sale and building disputes and is widely recognised for his expertise in handling both court and arbitration proceedings.
In Sydney, Nick Watts joins the partnership to support the continued growth of the firm’s construction practice, in particular across Australia and throughout Asia where the firm is seeing significant opportunities in infrastructure and supply chain projects.
The Avo Archive
The website of this newsletter contains all the editorial material since the inception of the Maritime Advocate as a print based quarterly in 1997 under the founding aegis of John Guy, Chris Hewer and Manfred Arnold. Readers can go to the site and search the database on the home page in its entirety. If you are looking for an old case, an old controversy or you would just like to see how many times you and your firm have featured in our annals feel free to access the archive. It is like this e-zine, free to Readers and we always appreciate the support of advertisers and sponsors.
Searching for references to the late Denzil Stuart we ran across this reference to him in connection with IUMI which was not held in very high esteem by the then editor Chris Hewer. It appears in Issue 268 of August 29th, 2006:-
Rheumy IUMI
YOUR editor is not one for exaggeration. But, during the course of the past thirty years, he has written millions of words about IUMI (The International Union of Marine Insurance). This is comfortably more – millions more – than anybody else in the world has managed. He has never once had a response from IUMI. Never once. Now, ironically, while standing a short watch as guest editor of Sam Ignarski’s Bow Wave e-zine this week, he has elicited a response from the august organisation, on the strength of having referred therein to “the grandly named but utterly unknown International Union of Marine Insurance.” IUMI secretary-general, Fritz Stabinger, emails from Zurich:
“Dear Mr Hewever, substitute editor (your editor is not sure if this bowdlerisation is deliberate, but suspects not). Thank you for one more of your newsletters which I read, every week, carefully. And because of not just having a glance from top left to bottom right, your item 3, 2nd paragraph, had to catch my attention, in particular because what you say there is not really a credit to your familiarity with IUMI or with our industry. Here a few observations:
“If IUMI is utterly unknown, it is unknown to you but probably not to people who work as marine underwriters over the globe and try hard to put things right.
“If IUMI is utterly unknown – now I say to you – that is because you probably do not read Lloyd’s List.
“If IUMI is utterly unknown to you, that is because you have never attended or participated in one of our conferences.
“Pease feel free to register as a member of the press for our Tokyo conference which starts mid-September – talk to our press officer, Denzil Stuart.
“If IUMI is utterly unknown to you that must be because you are not a cargo or hull underwriter and – I must take that for granted – have never bothered to take a look at our website.
“But true again, on our website you do not find solutions on how to formulate cheap shots at an organisation you are not familiar with.
“By the way: how do you know that marine insurers did not save, for their companies, millions by not making that tiny mistake because they listened to what is being discussed by IUMI. And: how do you know that quality shipping is not just a buzz-word employed by IMO but something IUMI and its affiliated take seriously indeed. And how do you know the grandly named IUMI does not contribute – importantly and substantially – to combat substandard shipping.
“And one last remark: before addressing the world and admitting how ignorant you are on where IUMI and the marine industry is positioned, did it ever occur to you that it might serve our industry and probably the so-called supply-chain much better if we joined forces instead of losing time in trying to formulate rebuttals?
“And one last thought: is it really necessary that you have to make me think thank God that you are the substitute?”
Gloomy IUMI
THAT is lot of last thoughts. Perhaps your editor should explain that he cut his teeth on IUMI conferences. He has attended nineteen in all, which is probably a world record for anybody, anywhere (with the exception of Denzil Stuart, for whom a medal should be struck) with no time off for good, bad or indifferent behaviour. He has laughed and cried in places as far apart as Tokyo and Edinburgh, and counted backwards, in sevens, from a hundred (and come to a halt at ninety) in a failed attempt to stay awake during the Inland Waterways Committee presentation.
IUMI remains so obscure that most people get its name wrong on the rare occasions that it crops up, and there are many marine underwriters around the world who, to your editor’s certain knowledge, have never even heard of IUMI. IUMI stands for the right things, in public, but lacks the will and the wit to make a difference on quality shipping.
Your editor – who over the years has spent on a fortune on Lloyd’s List and ruined his eyes on the IUMI website – attended IUMI the last time it was in Tokyo, and will not be going there again. But how good it is to see that IUMI has a heart, and a soul. There may yet be hope for it.
http://www.avoarchive.com/searchBI.php
Thoughts on Mothers’ Day
(Answers given by 2nd grade school children)
Why did God make mothers?
1. She’s the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He Just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We’re related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people’s moms like me.
What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don’t know because I wasn’t there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your Mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats alot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn’t have her thinking cap on.
Who’s the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn’t want to be boss, but she has to because dad’s such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What’s the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home, & dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power ’cause that’s who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend’s. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your Mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don’t do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
1. On the inside she’s already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I’d diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I’d get rid of that.
2. I’d make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on her back of her head.
[Source: Paul Dixon]
On Safari with the Mother-in-law
A big game hunter went on a safari with his wife and mother-in-law. One morning, while still deep in the jungle, the hunter’s wife awakened to find her mother gone. She woke her husband, and they both set off in search of the old woman. In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight. The mother-in-law was standing face to face with a ferocious lion.
“What are we going to do,” ? his horrified wife asked.
“Nothing,” her husband replied, “The lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it.”
[Source: Frazer Hunt]
Thanks for Reading the Maritime Advocate online
Maritime Advocate Online is a weekly digest of news and views on the maritime industries, with particular reference to legal issues and dispute resolution. It is published to over 15 500 individual subscribers each week and republished within firms and organisations all over the maritime world. It is the largest publication of its kind. We estimate it goes to around 45 000 Readers in over 120 countries.